Eric Stork, former EPA official who oversaw auto emissions compliance, dies at 87

Eric O. Stork, an Environmental Protection Agency regulator who tangled with the auto industry over automobile air pollution standards, died Feb. 2 at his home in Arlington County, Va. He was 87.

The cause was kidney failure, according to his daughter, Nancy Keener.

Mr. Stork, who was once described in a Washington Post headline as ‘‘a career bureaucrat who wanted to make a difference,’’ specialized in monitoring compliance with EPA regulations. For eight years in the 1970s, he watched over automakers’ compliance with the EPA’s rules on exhaust emissions. He became known as ‘‘The Iron Duke’’ and ‘‘Mr. Clean Air.’’